A Darker Past (Entangled Teen) (The Darker Agency) (24 page)

Chapter Thirty-Three

The first thing I noticed when I could open my eyes was light. Lots and lots of annoying, bright light. I was seated in an ornate chair. Bright red with gold and green jewels. Next to me sat Dad, with Mom on his right. Kendra and Lukas were on the other side. No sign of Cassidy. The ceiling was vaulted, and if it hadn’t been for the visible support beams, I would have sworn it wasn’t there at all. There were stars as far as the eye could see.

“Admiring my ceiling?” a voice asked. Lucifer strode into view. Behind him, by the door, was Valefar. “I’m fond of the stars, aren’t you, Valefar? We don’t have them here. Pity.”

Here
. The only place I knew of that didn’t have stars was the Shadow Realm. I stood and took a step forward. “Please,” I said. “Don’t freak about us stealing the prison. We were only—”

Lucifer snapped his fingers. Suddenly I was in the seat again.

“Your methods, while unconventional, and dare I say dangerous, worked. Gressil is back in his cage.”

“We obeyed your command,” Dad said from his own ugly chair. Unlike me, he didn’t try getting up. “I aided in rescuing the Belfair witch, not Gressil’s recapture.”

Lucifer turned to Dad. “You’re actions are not in question, Damien.”

Mom, however, stood. Yep. I was my mother’s daughter through and through. “Then whose are?”

Lucifer’s gaze fell on Mom, and I held my breath. Dad did, too. But instead of being angry, the King of Hell smiled. “Klaire Darker. It is an
honor
to have you in my home.”

Mom wasn’t impressed. “And why
are
we here?” A swell of pride rushed through me. My mom. Badass, even in the face of Lucifer himself.

“Klaire,” Dad whispered. He alternated between watching Lucifer and glaring at Valefar.

“It’s all right, Damien. I like a woman who speaks her mind.” He paced back and forth in front of the chairs, hands clasped behind his back. “Maybe you’re here because I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done.”

“Maybe,” Mom said. “But that’s not the reason.”

Lucifer grinned. “Actually, it is. In a manner of speaking.” He began to pace from one side of the room to the other. “As I’m sure you know, the Shadow Realm has rules. Rules that I take seriously. A house without rules will end up in chaos. Damien came to me recently and asked me to break two of those rules.”

I knew I shouldn’t interrupt—especially, of all people, Lucifer—but my lips were moving before I could think twice. “You’re letting me out of my contract with Valefar?”

Lucifer frowned, and when I glanced over at Val, even though I knew it was my imagination, he actually looked hurt. “There is nothing I can do about that. In the Shadow Realm, you are considered of age. You made that deal having knowledge of its pros and cons. You are tied to it. No, Damien asked me something else. Something that I denied him because I felt it would, in the end, be detrimental to our house.”

Dad stood. He kept his expression neutral, but there was still a hint of shock.

“As a thank you, for recapturing Gressil, I am going to reverse my decision.” He turned to Dad. “Damien, Master of the House of Pride, your request is granted.”

“I’m confused. How—” A flash of light cut through the room, and when I could see again, we were all back in the clearing. “How does him granting his favor say thank you to us?” I finished. “I really hate when demons do that.”

“Damien,” Mom said slowly. It was dark, but the moon was full. She was standing a few feet away next to Kendra, and she didn’t look happy. “I want to know what’s going on.”

Dad took a step toward her. There was sadness in his eyes. “I love you, Klaire. I knew from the moment I saw you that you were different from other humans.” He took a step back, out of the moonlight, and melted into the shadows. When he reemerged, he was standing in front of her. “But there are rules I must live by. Unbreakable rules that forbid me from tying myself to a human.”

Hell in a hailstorm…

He faded into the darkness again, and when he reappeared, this time he was behind her. His right hand lay flat against the ground when he went down on one knee with his head bowed. His left was curled around something dark. “I approached Lucifer with a loophole. One that might allow me…” His head rose, and he opened his fist. In the center of his palm was a small silver circle with a glinting black stone. “Klaire, of the Darker Clan, I ask you to bind yourself to me for eternity. To be mine and mine alone until the sun no longer rises above this world.”

Mom blinked once and then again. “Did you just—did you just ask me—”

Dad stood and slipped the ring onto her finger. “Marry me, Klaire.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

As far as weeks go, this one had been a doozy. I’d officially started collecting on deals for Val, we’d been threatened by a demon with a grudge, put on notice by the ruler of Hell, and as of yesterday, my parents were getting married.

About damn time.

I’d talked to Kendra earlier. She still hadn’t found her mother. After we’d gotten zapped to the Shadow Realm by Lucifer, Cassidy disappeared. I was sure nothing funky had happened, and Kendra wasn’t worried, either. Her mother was probably just laying low. She’d betrayed the entire coven, as well as the Belfair name. That wasn’t going to go down without serious repercussions. Kendra said she was okay with it all—her mother did it to herself, after all—but I still worried that when the time came, she’d have a hard time with it. The mantle of coven leader fell to her shoulders by default, and she was going to take some time to sort things out before making it official. I couldn’t blame her. She was terrified to take on that much responsibility.

I trudged up the stairs from the office to the apartment. Mom and Dad were off doing God-knew-what to celebrate, and Lukas, being the gentleman that he was, refused to be here while they were away. After what happened between us in the cave, I had a feeling he was worried about his control. Or, maybe it was my control he questioned. Either way, that’s what I assumed until I pushed through my bedroom door.

“Been waiting for you,” Lukas said. He was propped against the windowsill on the other side of the room, wearing a mischievous grin.

I smiled, glad I’d been wrong. What good was having a boyfriend who could shadow if he wasn’t willing to pop in for some midnight smoochies? “Have you?” Pulse quickening, I made my way across the floor. “And why’s that?”

I stopped a few feet away. He pushed off the sill and came forward. With a deep breath, his gaze skimmed my body from top to bottom. “I’ll admit it. I came to talk to you, but now that you’re standing in front of me…”

I took his hands and wrapped them around my waist. All the things that cave demon said bounced around inside my head. “I know what you mean,” I whispered, kissing him lightly.

“I don’t know how Damien does it,” Lukas said, gaze settling on my lips. He tightened his arms around me, fingers tugging at the back belt loops of my jeans. “If it’s normal to be this…charged up…all the time, how do he and Klaire keep their hands off each other?”

Ick. Not a place I wanted to go. “Way to kill a mood, Grandpa.” I laughed.

Some of the heat in his eyes evaporated, replaced by that familiar spark of sweetness I loved so much. He took a breath and let go of me, stepping away. I wanted to argue, but it was for the best. As much as he wanted me, I wanted him, too. With a ferocity that scared me. I was half demon and was blown away by the intensity. I couldn’t imagine how he felt.

“I want you to know that I
can
control it,” he said. He took my face between his hands. “I lo—I’ve made it clear how I feel. All of you, Jessie. I’m here for all of you. I may be something darker than human, but I was that when you met me. Not merely a man, but something tainted. You’re the brightness in all that. I will be honorable for you.”

I let my forehead fall against his and chuckled. “Not too honorable, I hope?”

With a finger, he lifted my chin and planted the softest kiss against my lips. There was a spark of hunger in his eyes. I knew because I felt the same one mirrored inside me. He stepped away, this time putting several feet between us. A shift to the right, and he backed into the darkened corner of my room. With a wink, he said, “Jessie, please. I’m a demon. There’s only so much honor I can handle.”

The words were on the tip of my tongue. Cocked, loaded, and ready to fire. But my metaphorical gun jammed up, and Lukas blended into the shadows, disappearing before I could get them out. “I love you,” I whispered. I’d said the words in the cave. I meant them. Speaking them face to face would take some time, though.

A breeze blew in through my partially open window. Warmer than it should have been for January. God. Was that really so hard?

I smiled, unable to keep from grinning like an idiot, and sank onto the bed. Smokey was sprawled out on the floor at my feet, camped out on my shredded pillow. He was chewing on one end and sitting on the other, amid a pile of feathers. I yanked both halves out from under him, which earned me a scathing glare. With a bark and irritated turn of his nose, he puffed out in a cloud of thick, foul-smelling smoke.

“Awesome,” I said, holding one of the pieces between two fingers. It was covered in demon dog drool.

“That stuff is a bitch, isn’t it?”

You think I’d be used to it by now, but I jumped anyway. I whirled around to see Valefar sitting cross-legged on my bed.

“Please don’t say you need me to go run an errand,” I said, flopping down into the chair by my computer. “I’m about three days overdue for a coma.”

“There is something I need you to do, but it will keep until morning.”

I blinked, then brought the heel of my hand up to rub my eyes, certain I’d just imagined the whole thing. “Seriously?”

Val frowned. “Come on now, Peaches. Have I not proven myself a fair and empathetic Master?”

Master
. God. He knew damn well I hated that word.

I sighed. “If you say so.”

He picked an imaginary piece of lint from his shirt and flicked it over the edge of my bed. “So I trust all is well in the Darker world?”

He was fishing for something. “Dad proposed, if that’s what you’re nosing around for.”

“Ahh. Yes. I assumed he would do it straight away. And your mother said yes, of course?”

“Val, could we not—”

His expression darkened. He was off the bed and in front of me before I could swallow the rest of my screw up. “What did you just call me?”

Oops. “I—um—I mean—”

For a second I thought he was going to implode. Go nuts and zap me or something. But instead, he laughed. “Val. I like it.” With a nod, he said, “You have my permission to call me that, Sugar. It seems only fair. You being my
right hand
, after all…”

“Yeah. About that…”

“That’s what you want to talk to me about?” He fell back onto the bed. “Huh. I was sure there would be something else you’d be itching to ask. You being so, what’s the word, inquisitive?”

“Something else?”

He rolled his eyes. “Something your father said…” When I didn’t answer, he prodded, “About the
loophole
?”

Then I understood. “You’re totally here to cause trouble, aren’t you?”

He clutched his chest and tilted his head back in mock insult. “How could you say such a thing?”

I wanted to let it die there, but he had me pegged, and I couldn’t resist. The can of curiosity worms had been opened, and they were crawling all over the place. “Fine,” I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. “What about the loophole?”

He grinned and picked at the corner of my comforter. With a shrug, he said, “I don’t know of any loophole that would allow a demon to marry a human.”

A chill rushed through the room. “I don’t understand…”

He stood. “I’ve been Lucifer’s Regent a
very
long time, Cupcake. He has never given someone permission to break one of the rules.
Never
.”

“You’re saying he’s not going to let them get married?”

“I’m not saying anything. I’m merely suggesting you proceed with caution, as there is still much you don’t know.” He clapped his hands. “And that brings us to your task. The rules. You need to learn them. You will spend an hour each day with me until you do.”

I opened my mouth to object, but thought better of it. There was no point. If I said I didn’t want to, he’d ignore me. If I didn’t show up, he’d simply drag me there. Or worse, show up here. “Fine.”

“Good,” he said, and snapped his fingers. The room flickered, and my ruined pillow and demon drool–stained sheets were replaced with new ones. “
Those
are sheets worth sleeping on.”

And he was gone.

I went to the bed and ran a finger along the pillow. Wow. He was right. The material was satiny soft. Great. Mom complained when I overslept already. Catching
Z
s on these wasn’t going to help that any.

I kicked off my shoes and slipped into my pajamas—the
I love Mashin’
tank Mom had made for me a few years ago and my favorite flannel pants—and slid into bed. The second I got myself all snuggly under the covers, the cell started to vibrate.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” I grabbed it and answered without looking. “This better be someone offering massive amounts of chocolate or a subscription to
Weapons Weekly
…”

“It’s me,” Kendra said. She was whispering, and there was an odd sound in the background. Like she was outside, standing by the side of the road. Every few seconds I’d hear what sounded like a car passing by.

I sat up and threw off the covers. “Ken? What’s wrong? Why does it sound like you’re playing in the middle of traffic?”

“I’m fine. I ran to the store. I needed some supplies.”

I glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight. “And by supplies I guess we’re not talking about milk and cookies?”

A horn honked. “It’s for a spell.”

I rolled my eyes. “Figured. What kind of spell?”

There was a short pause, and then she sighed. “Promise you won’t yell at me first.”

This should be good… “Sure,” I lied.

“It’s a demon banishing spell…”

“Kendra!” I snapped, trying to keep my voice down. Mom and Dad weren’t home, but it was habit. “Are you crazy?”

“I didn’t go looking for trouble. I swear.”

I believed her. She had enough on her plate without going digging for demon gold. Still, I was intrigued. And she knew me so well.

“So what do you say? Sneak out and go kick some demon ass with me? You know you wanna…”

She was right. I totally wanted to.

“Come on,” she prodded.”Come out and play. Be my Charles.”

I sighed. This newfound confidence and heightened power of hers was going to get me into a ton of trouble.

And I had a feeling I’d love every minute.

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